Thursday, December 31, 2009

Edel Rodriguez visually realizes the manic intellectual world of mid-20th century writer Arthur Koestler for a book review in the December issue of The Atlantic. Koestler, says the article, was written off as "a much afflicted scribe of his time, greedy for pleasure, haunted by guilt, who enjoyed a short vogue and was then forgotten."

Alan Kuperman, the director of the Nuclear Proliferation Prevention Program at the University of Texas, believes that our only remaining option to get Iran to cease enriching uranium for nuclear weapons is to bomb them.

A few NY Times readers see things a bit differently; Matt Dorfman illustrates this Letters to the Editor topic today.

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Matt Herring illustrated a thought-provoking article for the Economist that draws parallels between the effect of the telegraph in the 1800’s and the Internet today on the health of the newspaper industry.

John Walker has recently completed work on a new Random House edition of Jonathon Swift’s satiric commentary on human nature, Gulliver’s Travels. John took a very simple approach to creating the drawings for the book, using nothing more than an HB pencil on Strathmore paper. The finished drawings were then scanned, imported into Photoshop, and saved as PS files for delivery to the client.

Jing Wei recently had the pleasure of completing two assignments for SooJin Buzelli, art director of sister publications Plan Sponsor and Plan Advisor. “SooJin's assignments are always fun to work with, due to the amount of creative liberty they allow,” enthuses Jing.

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Mark Summers’ signature engraving style was the perfect medium for this ripped-from-currency cover portrait of Ben Bernanke for Time Magazine’s Person of the Year issue. “The story of the year was a weak economy that could have been much, much weaker. How the mild-mannered man who runs the Federal Reserve prevented an economic catastrophe...”

Monday, December 21, 2009

Randy Pollak’s poster for arthouse film, "Guest of Cindy Sherman," was selected as one of the year's Top 80 movie posters by Picksflix.com, based on creativity, design concept, appropriateness to the story, excellence and movie marketing perspective. Popular vote for the Top 10 is now underway stay tuned!

For her weekly feature in the UK Independent, Jem Robinson was asked to illustrate the perceived failure of the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference by creating a distressed, cracked and patched up version of the Mermaid of Copenhagen.

This exquisitely executed watercolor is the work of Philip Bannister, who was commissioned by London antique dealers, Hancock's. The illustration has a magnificent timeless quality, perfect for the antique market, and will be used in all of Hancock’s company literature and correspondence material.

One of Tim Foley’s favorite illustrations of the past busy week is this quick turnaround for Barrons. The story concerned investing in shaky regions of the world, which the article's author described as 'wild west investing'. Tim was able to find very little photo reference for the particular angle he had in mind, so the final came out of thin air and pure imagination.

Allan Burch was commissioned by University of San Diego to create a painting of Cathedral at Alcalá de Henares, Spain, a building whose late Gothic style is the inspiration for the campus architecture, also known as Alcalá Park.

Stephen Savage's timeless and tender children's book illustrations have earned him the honor of creating images for a previously unpublished story by Margaret Wise Brown, “The Fathers Are Coming Home.”

Bryon Thompson contributed a wide variety of illustrations to the latest fun series of SHOW ME NOW books by publisher Weldon Owen. Bryon's illustrations guide readers through all of the important things in life: How To Bring Up Baby; How To Be Cool; How To Make Love; and How To Survive… not necessarily in that order.

Contributors to the 4th annual 'If You Could Collaborate,' which opens at the Rochelle School's A Foundation Gallery in London next month, have been challenged to produce a piece of work with a partner of their choosing, from any profession or background. The line-up thus includes some very famous names from the creative industry, plus several up-and-coming talents.

Along with the exhibition a 312-page catalogue will also be produced documenting the processes the various artists used to create their collaborative piece of work.

Peggy Fussell created this illustration for TreeBalitimore, an organization that advocates the planting of urban trees in Maryland's capitol. The image, to be used on a website promoting the Million Trees Project, is a diagram showing the various types of locations where trees can be planted in order to increase the city’s green space.

Steven Salerno just received his advance copy of "Pantaloon," the 1951 Little Golden Book classic that he re-illustrated for 2010 release by Random House. The story is about an energetic poodle who is determined to become the Baker's new assistant, and will stop at nothing to do so...

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

You can find this light hearted illustration by Josh J. Holinaty in Canada's The Globe & Mail today. The article is about the memory of a soccer mom's long lost good pal: a minivan with the heart of a rally car.

Zara Picken was commissioned by Futurelab to create illustrations for their main feature in Vision Magazine. The article is about a hands-on, creative and participatory approach to learning and education.

It is a wise art director, indeed, who knows that the power of a well made illustration can lift even the driest material and transform it into a fascinating must-read article. SooJin Buzelli at Asset International is one such wizard, and we’re very proud that she often turns to theispot to find the artists who help her spin straw into gold. Here are some of SooJin's picks for the Winter 2009 issue of AI5000.

Lydia Hess created this image for an article on developing bionic contact lenses. We already see a future in which the humble contact lens becomes a real platform, much like the iPhone is today, with lots of developers contributing their ideas and innovations.

Jing Wei created an opener and five spots for an upcoming issue of American Way, the in-flight magazine for American Airlines. The article was about authentic Italian cooking and its inimitable results, which are largely dependent on the quality of the ingredients.

Canadian artist Carl Wiens' illustrations can be found worldwide, but there is plenty going on in his own backyard that keeps him busy as well. When the Olympic torch passed through his Prince Edward County community on its way to the Vancouver 2010 games, Carl was proud to contribute the illustrations for the celebrations guide, to be held at the Crystal Palace on the town's fairgrounds.

Steven Noble is helping Fentimans, an independent UK- based soft drink company, tug Coca-Cola's long white beard this Christmas. Steve conjured up an old-fashioned illustration of a Fentimans Santa wearing the colors of Curiosity Cola and workman's boots, standing victorious over a chubby Father Christmas lying prostrate and dressed in his customary red outfit much championed and featured by Coca Cola.

Pete Ryan whipped up these images in less than 48 hours for an article featuring the website, "Rotten Tomatoes." Not familiar with the site? You should be! It aggregates movie reviews and posts the findings on a "Tomato Meter" from fresh to rotten. The focus of the article was the site's Oscar predictability.

Pete McDonnell created this Super Saver character for a recent Milwaukee Magazine cover. The story was about the inherent thriftiness of the average Milwaukee resident… Frugality is something of an art in that town, apparently!